Optiemus to make and sell handsets for BlackBerry in India

KOLKATA: BlackBerry, the brand that ruled the smartphone world before the advent of iPhone and touch phones, is set for a return to the country with Delhi-based Optiemus Infracom signing a 10-year a brand licensing agreement with the Canadian company.

Optiemus, a distributor of mobile phones and accessories, has bagged exclusive rights to design, manufacture and sell the once iconic smartphone brand, besides providing customer support in India and some neighbouring countries, two senior industry executives told ET.

“The company will focus on BlackBerry handsets priced between Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000, which is the fastest growing segment in India,” one of them said. The Delhi-based firm will localise BlackBerry handsets completely for the Indian market and expects to sell two million handsets in one year, the person said.

BlackBerry will also license its security software and service suite to Optiemus whereby it will launch BlackBerry smartphones running on Google Android operating system and position them as ‘secured’ handsets. The handsets will also receive security updates directly from BlackBerry, the executives said. When contacted, Optiemus chairman Ashok Gupta declined to comment. An email sent to Black-Berry remained unanswered as of press time on Thursday.

Optiemus, which has been the distributor of BlackBerry smartphones in the country since November last, had recently set up a smartphone contract manufacturing operations with Taiwan’s Wistron in the country. BlackBerry handsets will be made at this facility, the executives said.

Besides India, Optiemus has the licence for the BlackBerry brand in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

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